More Schools to Join Airtel, UNICEF Re-imagine Education Program in Nigeria

By Aduragbemi Omiyale A student of Premiere Academy, Lugbe, Abuja, Miss Sonia Nwakanma, has retained her position as the Best Female Chess Player in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for the third year running. She clinched the latest accolade she first picked in 2021 at the prestigious Abuja Inter-School Chess Competition, rated by the World Chess Federation (FIDE) and the Chess Players Association of Nigeria (CPAN). Miss Nwakanma, who is a member of the 2023 graduating set of the school, attributed her achievement to her school’s robust in-house sports and personal development facilities that offer students opportunities to compete with

By Adedapo Adesanya Irish author Paul Lynch won the 2023 Booker Prize for fiction for his novel Prophet Song, a dystopian work about an Ireland that descends into tyranny. The 46-year-old beat five other shortlisted novelists to the prestigious award at a ceremony in London. He becomes the fifth Irish writer to win the high-profile literary prize, which has propelled to fame countless household names, including past winners Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood and Hilary Mantel. “This was not an easy book to write,” Mr Lynch said after collecting his award, which comes with £50,000 (around $63,000) and a huge boost

By Jerome-Mario Utomi Recently, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State approved a 25 per cent reduction in acceptance fees payable in the four state-owned universities as part of palliatives for students. The governor’s approval was contained in a statement issued by Festus Ahon, his chief press secretary, on Wednesday, in Asaba. According to the statement, the reduction in the acceptance fee was in line with measures taken by the Delta State government to cushion the effect of the fuel subsidy removal on citizens. Ahon further said that the 25 per cent reduction was applicable to new students at the state-owned

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to Norwegian writer, Mr Jon Fosse, for “his innovative plays and prose, which give voice to the unsayable,” according to the Royal Swedish Academy. One of his country’s most-performed dramatists, Mr Fosse, 64, has written some 40 plays as well as novels, short stories, children’s books, poetry and essays. Learn more about the 2023 #NobelPrize in Literature: https://t.co/dVT9QJr7PM — The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 5, 2023 Mr Mats Malm, permanent secretary of the academy, announced the prize Thursday in Stockholm. Mr Malm said he reached Fosse by telephone to

By Adedapo Adesanya President Muhammadu Buhari has approved a steering committee to immediately commence the implementation of the recently signed Petroleum Industry Act. The steering committee, which has 12-month duration for the assignment, is headed by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Timipre Sylva. The President gave the approval on Wednesday while giving a remark on the Act which he assented to on Monday. He spoke during a meeting with the leadership of the National Assembly led by the President of the Senate, Mr Ahmed Lawan, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. The President hinted that relevant ministries,

By Aduragbemi Omiyale Access Bank has become the first financial institution in Nigeria to successfully issue the first live card of Nigeria’s national card scheme called AfriGO Card. The card system is a product of a financial services business affiliated with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), AfriGOpay, and was designed to meet the needs of the Nigerian payment industry. The scheme is championed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and NIBSS to provide innovative solutions to users of financial services in Nigeria, Africa, and across the global markets. The launch of AfriGO is another milestone in the development

By Jerome-Mario Utomi As both the federal and state governments in Nigeria continue to allow the rate of out-of-school children, especially in the northern part of Nigeria, to swell in number, even when it is obvious that the streets are known for breeding all forms of criminals and other social misfits who constitute the real threat in the forms of armed robbers; thugs, drunkards, prostitutes and all other social ills that give a bad name to the society, Nigerians are beginning to view government’s approach to the challenge as not yielding the targeted result. The latest of such worry came

By Adedapo Adesanya Amazon Web Services (AWS) has made its physical presence in Nigeria, with the opening of its first office in Lagos. This was confirmed by Ms Amrote Abdella, the firm’s regional manager of sub-Saharan Africa, on Tuesday, saying the office was to reinforce its commitment to Africa. “We are excited to open our first AWS office in Nigeria,” she said. “Lagos offers a highly skilled and creative talent pool, and the area is home to many fast-growing startups and notable Nigerian enterprises leading the way in digital innovation,” she said. Ms Abdella said the new Lagos office was

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The management of one of the leading cement firms in Nigeria, Lafarge Africa Plc, has announced the commencement of its closed period. The company, in a notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) dated Thursday, September 21, 2017, said the closed period started on Wednesday, September 20, 2017. In the statement signed by Mrs Edith Onwuchekwa, who is both the Company Secretary and Legal Director, Lafarge further said the closed period will end on Wednesday, September 27, 2017. Also, the cement firm said it would hold an Extra-Ordinary Board Meeting on Tuesday, September 26, 2017, to discuss

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The sum of N49.2 billion has been disbursed to over 92,000 households and small business owners by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as loans to help ease the effect of COVID-19. A few months ago, the apex bank announced the provision of a N50 billion credit facility for households and entrepreneurs in the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Addressing members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) last month in Abuja, the Governor of the CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, disclosed that the initiative has been successful, helping the beneficiaries to get back on their feet after the

By Dipo Olowookere On Thursday, April 12, 2018, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) auctioned some treasury bills via the Open Market Operations (OMO). The apex bank offered bills worth N500 billion to investors during the exercise and sold the same amount of the instrument despite receiving subscriptions worth N965.26 billion from them. It was observed that investors were more attracted to the longer tenor bill than the shorter tenor instrument offered yesterday. From the N100 billion worth of 112-day bill offered to traders, the CBN raised a meagre N1.29 billion at 12.20 percent. However, the apex bank received N963.97

By Aduragbemi Omiyale President Bola Tinubu has orderes the dissolution of governing boards of all federal government parastatals, agencies, institutions, and Government-Owned Companies. A statement issued on Monday night by Mr Willie Bassey, the Director of Information in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, said the dissolution of the boards of Parastatals followed the provisions of the Constitution. It added that pending the appointments of the heads, the chief executives should refer matters requiring the attention of their boards to the President, through the Permanent Secretaries of their respective supervisory ministries and offices. The statement